Fourth year, third OC: How LaNorris Sellers is picking up Kendal Briles’ new scheme

LaNorris Sellers is learning a new offense this spring, but learning a new offense isn’t new to him.

Sellers enters his fourth season overall with South Carolina football and third season as the Gamecocks’ starting quarterback. He’ll be running new offensive coordinator Kendal Briles’ offense, after USC brought in the former TCU OC in place of Mike Shula. Briles is the third offensive coordinator hired at USC since Sellers arrived on campus in 2023 and redshirted.

Learning a new offense is no easy task, and Sellers only had a short time to do it — Briles said USC installed the bulk of the new scheme in spring practice, which has 15 sessions from March 4-April 11. But the third-year starter said having to cycle through OCs once before made the process a lot smoother this time around.

“I think having learned previous systems in the past, picking up a new system gets easier the more you do it,” Sellers said. “Not that it’s necessarily a good thing that you’ve gotta learn multiple systems, but it’s just easier to pick up and understand.”

Sellers got one year of continuity from his first season as a redshirt to his first year as a starter with Dowell Loggains, throwing for 2,534 yards, 18 touchdowns and rushing for 674 yards, the most of any QB in program history. Loggains left USC after the 2024 season and Shula took over. Sellers still passed for 2,437 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2024, but rushed for 270 yards on 17 fewer carries.

Briles said he didn’t look at the previous year’s playbook and wanted to establish his system in the spring. For Sellers, this meant making the offense as natural as possible, and Briles said his QB progressed well in this area over the spring.

“It’s slowed down for him. You could really tell that in our last practice on Thursday (April 2), just processing things at a lot quicker pace and playing at a higher tempo,” Briles said. “Been very pleased with him.”

USC coach Shane Beamer said he’s happy with where Sellers is right now, but said there’s a long way to go and more to do before the Gamecocks line up against Kent State on Sept. 5.

“This summer will be big for him, as he continues to master the details of everything that we’re doing,” Beamer said. “It’s nice to have a guy returning that’s about to be going into his third year as a starter, which I’ve never had since I’ve been the head coach. It’s nice to see a guy now be able to take that next step, even though it’s a different system.”

Sellers said he knows it’s an important year for him in multiple ways as he prepares for what’s most likely his last season in a Gamecock uniform, but that he’s focused on the short-term for now.

“I’m doing whatever I can now to help put me in the best situation for the season, really. It’s not gonna happen overnight,” Sellers said. “It’s a long ways. We still got fall, summer workouts and all that. Just taking it one step at a time, one day at a time.”

This story was originally published April 9, 2026 at 7:29 AM.